Johnson County Sheriff Denning opposes additional gun control laws

Danedri Thompson[email protected]
Johnson County’s leading law enforcement officer does not support stricter gun control measures.
As Johnson County Sheriff, Frank Denning, Edgerton, said he will never support nor advocate for legislation at any level that would restrict legal possession or ownership of any type of firearm by lawful citizens.
Denning issued a press release last week saying that since the Newton, Conn., shooting he has been inundated with questions on the issue of gun control.
“From reading the proposed changes and suggestions for future legislation from Washington, I see nothing whatsoever that would have prevented these autrocities from occurring,” Denning said. “Nor do they pretend to effectively prevent future incidents from happening.”
President Obama last week announced a series of initiatives pertaining to law enforcement, the availability of firearms and ammunition and school safety and mental health. Twenty three executive orders, including steps to increasing access to background check data, removing legal barriers to background checks – specifically related to health records, reviewing the criteria for gun ownership, issuing annual reports on lost and stolen guns, informing doctors they can report gun information to federal authorities, and providing incentives for schools to hire resource officers are to take place immediately.
Denning said the public outcry seems to be part of a “mindless emotion that demands, ‘do something,’ even if we know it is ineffective, meaningless and purely symbolic,” Denning said.
“Even in our national grief, we must adhere to reason and logic.”
Denning suggested that more firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens would be a better deterrent to future mass shootings.
“Logic dictates to us that armed individuals, whether armed private individuals or hired security personnel, are the answer to prevent future tragedies in those places that we have inadvertently made free-fire zones with the totally useless, ‘no guns allowed’ signs,” he said.
Denning joins dozens of county sheriffs across the country who issued similar statements last week. For example, in New Mexico, 30 of 33 county sheriffs issued statements opposing additional gun control. Individual county sheriffs in parts of Texas, California, Alabama and Oregon also issued statements last week.